By Harry Nara · Last updated
- First day: the bayram prayer and the sacrificeSunday 16 May 2027
- Last day, also Youth and Sports DayWednesday 19 May 2027
- Where
- Mosques and neighbourhoods across Istanbul
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- May
- Dates
- Move each year with the lunar calendar
From the Diyanet’s list of 2027 public holidays: a half day of arife on the afternoon of Saturday 15 May, then four days of Kurban Bayramı from Sunday 16 to Wednesday 19 May. Türkiye fixes its religious calendar by calculation, so these dates will not move. The last day falls on 19 May, Youth and Sports Day, which is a holiday in its own right.
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Kurban Bayramı is Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, and in Türkiye it is a four-day public holiday after a half-day eve. Because the Diyanet fixes the dates by calculation, you can plan around them a year or more ahead. For a visitor, the first morning is the one that changes most: mosques fill for the holiday prayer, many palaces and museums open late or stay shut, and small shops close. From the second day the city runs much as usual, while roads, coaches and domestic flights are at their busiest of the spring.
What Kurban Bayramı actually is
The feast remembers Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, and the ram given in the boy’s place. Families who can afford it buy an animal, usually a sheep or a share of a cow, and divide the meat between the household, relatives and people in need, so the holiday is as much about giving as about eating.
It begins at sunrise on the first day with the bayram prayer, when mosques overflow into their courtyards and the streets around them. Then come visits: younger relatives call on their elders and kiss their hands, sweets go round, and children collect small gifts of money.
The sacrifice itself happens at sites the municipality licenses for the purpose, mostly on the edges of the city, so a visitor in Sultanahmet or Beyoğlu is very unlikely to see it. What you will notice is the quiet of the first morning and the traffic of everyone else heading out of town.
Where the holiday shows
- The great mosques on the first morning. Süleymaniye, the Blue Mosque, Eyüp Sultan and the neighbourhood mosques fill for the prayer soon after sunrise, with worshippers on mats in the courtyards. Watch from a respectful distance, and leave sightseeing inside the mosques until later in the day.
- The palaces and museums. Expect first-day changes: in a recent year Topkapı opened late on the first morning while Dolmabahçe and the other national palaces stayed shut until the second day. Check each site’s holiday hours before you go.
- The coach stations, airports and ferry piers. Istanbulites leave for their home towns and the coast as the holiday starts, and the Princes’ Islands ferries are packed with day-trippers through the week.
Tickets and what it costs
The holiday costs nothing to watch. In recent years Istanbul’s buses, metro, trams and Marmaray have been made free on the four holiday days, though not on the eve, by a decision announced shortly before; tap your İstanbulkart as usual.
Banks and government offices close for the whole holiday, while cash machines keep working. Small shops and family restaurants are the likeliest to shut, above all on the first day; malls and the restaurants in the main visitor districts stay open.
Official information and booking: vakithesaplama.diyanet.gov.tr/icerik.php?icerik=159
Getting there
Getting around the city is easier than usual once the first-day rush out of town is over. Leaving it is harder: coaches, domestic flights and the roads to the coast are fullest on the eve and the first day, and again as the holiday ends.
The government sometimes adds bridge days to make a nine-day break, as it did in a recent year, and announces them only weeks ahead, which stretches the rush. If a trip to Cappadocia or the coast is part of the plan, book it well ahead or schedule it for the week after. Hotels in Istanbul price the holiday as a peak, so reserve early there too.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Planning Topkapı for the first morning
Palaces and museums open late or not at all on the first day. Put the big sights on the second day or later.
Visiting a mosque during the bayram prayer
The prayer fills mosques and their courtyards soon after sunrise. Come back later in the day, outside prayer times.
Booking a coach out on the eve
The eve and the first day are when the country travels. Leave a day or two later, or book weeks ahead.
Counting on a small shop or restaurant
Family businesses often close for the first day or longer. Have a fallback in the main districts.
Other Istanbul events
Frequently asked questions
When is Kurban Bayramı?
It moves about eleven days earlier each year with the Islamic calendar; the dates card above shows this year’s, from the Diyanet’s published list of public holidays.
Is Kurban Bayramı a good time to visit Istanbul?
It can be. The city is quieter than usual once residents leave, and the first-morning prayers are worth seeing from outside. Allow for first-day closures and book any travel out of the city early.
Are museums open in Istanbul during Kurban Bayramı?
Mostly, but not on the first morning. Palaces and museums tend to open late or stay shut on the first day, then keep near-normal hours for the rest of the holiday.
Is public transport free in Istanbul during the holiday?
It has been in recent years, on the four holiday days but not on the eve, under a decision announced shortly before. Use your İstanbulkart as usual.
Will I see animals being sacrificed?
Very unlikely in the visitor districts. The sacrifice takes place at licensed sites, mostly on the edges of the city, on the first days of the holiday.
Sources
- Presidency of Religious Affairs, public holidays for the year (Turkish)
- Presidency of Religious Affairs, public holidays for the following year (Turkish)
- National Palaces Administration, visiting hours
- Habertürk, free public transport over a recent Kurban Bayramı (Turkish)
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2028. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.